Many remember well where we were on that day draped in melancholy memory when the terrible news radiated out of Dallas. Followed by nonstop news coverage: Dealey Plaza, horrific footage, the killer murdered on Sunday-morning live television, a bereaved widow and family, lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda, funeral, horse-drawn caisson, bagpipes, taps. Tragic for many reasons, not least the cutting short of a life with potential to be truly exceptional in terms of constructive influence on the lives of others.

In contrast, the mortal life of C.S. Lewis – though it ended that same morning – continues to illuminate and edify the lives of readers of his brilliant writing.

Classic snippets include:

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.